Corky: Light years from Pony Express

I love modern technology. All of it. The new and better surfing equipment for sure, but also all the cool stuff that makes you go, "how did we ever exist without the whatever it is that you are talking about."

Cell phones are a perfect example. Remember back when only Captain Kirk and Spock had them? We haven't quite reached the "beam me up, Scotty" part yet. But who knows? Probably sometime in the future that will be the popular way to get around – a huge savings on gas by beaming around instead of driving.

This topic came up the other day when my neighbor, the infamous Iguana, and I were watching a football game on television. We were talking about how amazing television quality is today compared to when we were kids and there were only black and white small, funky television sets.

If you had an antenna on the roof you might get semi-half-clear reception, as it was in those days. But most people had these things on the top of their sets called "rabbit ears." You were always trying to readjust them to get rid of all the lines and snow in your picture. Many used tin foil and other add ons to the rabbit ears in a usually unsuccessful attempt to get better quality.

But it was what it was. Today's HD and Blu-ray quality was unthought-of of back then. Heck, I was amazed when they came out with color TV.

Then I was sitting out in the lineup this morning with my iPhone in a waterproof case that I just received from Watershot, Inc. This is a very cool thing that allows you to use the camera on your iPhone in the water. So I was out there taking a few shots of my pals surfing. And, at the same time, I had on my waterproof iPod that I use to surf with. There I am listening to ZZ Top singing "Tube Snake Boogie" while my pals are zipping by and I am snapping off pics on my iPhone. How cool is that?

I can see surfing business executives making zillion-dollar deals in the lineup between sets. Other dudes setting up dinner dates. Still others trying to convince their wives that they are not surfing and really at work and the water sounds are only the sink in the men's room. The possibilities are endless.

Just having the Internet is huge. THAT is one of the real "how did we live without this" deals. This is so much better than being on a party line and depending on the Pony Express with the mail.

How many of you are old enough to remember party lines? No, not conga lines. Your telephone would be connected with a few others in your area and sometimes when you wanted to make a call one of the other people would be on and you would have to wait.

When I was little I remember being very quiet and listening in to some pretty steamy conversations going on. Hey, young boys do what young boys do. It was all a learning experience.

But, point being, today we have the freaking INTERNET. That is light years beyond a party line and a three-cent stamp for means of communication. You can send a message in an instant. The mail would take days. You can pay a bill online, how many times does that save you from being late?

How long have we had the Internet anyway? Not all that long really. Geeze, I remember when I got my first word processer and thought that was so ultra modern and better than a typewriter.

Surfing with music and a phone? It's now. They even have a motorized surfboard that runs on a battery. And all of this technology is relatively new.

The days of heavy wood surfboards, black and white television with rabbit ears, listening to the neighbor guy hot talk his girlfriend on the party line and snail mail are all just memories from my earlier life. It's a new day.

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